forth the more is the Government unhappy and accursed and the sooner will the Lord overthrow it and bring it to a desolate end and therefore my Friends let this great enemy to your persons government and whole Nation to wit persecution for conscience sake be speedily removed least the anger of the Lord break forth against you and repentance be too late for this know in all ages the Lord stretched forth his hand and in his time he quickly avenged himself for his peoples sake after their innocent sufferings born by them for a season and he is the same and changeth not and the same will he bring to pass therefore I say again be awakned and let that deadly enemy be removed out of the land as you tender your own safety and honour and the glory of the Name of the Lord and his peoples peace even this very enemy to wit persecution for conscience sake for it doth and will obstruct all your good purposes at home and abroad It eats away the affections of all good people from you and it eats out your strength and valour and it consumes the weakness of all your enemies verily it is an enemy that will work your destruction speedily both in this world and in the world to come that of God in ye all shall witness me in the day of the Lord I am your Friend and these things do I write as a Friend unto you as to warn you of that secret enemy so much reigning and rebelling in this Nation which indeed may work a greater distruction upon you then any forreign invader and this in time you may witness to your grief and sorrow if something by you be not done to suppress it all health and peace I wish unto you in the Lord and thus far am I clear from the blood of you and all men come life or death EDWARD BURROUGH The several Copies of this was delivered to Oliver and his Counsel in the 12th month in the year 1657 Oh! OLIVER HAdst thou been faithful and thundred down the deceipt the Hollander had been thy subject and tributers and Germany had given up to have done thy will and the Spaniard had quivered like a dry leaf wanting the vertue of God the King of France should have bowed under thee his neck the Pope should have withered as in winter the Turk in all his fatness should have smoaked thou shouldst not a stood trifling about small things but minded the work of the Lord as he began with thee at first sober men and true hearts took part with thee Oh! take heed and do not slight such least thou weaken thy self and not disown such as the Lord hath owned thy dread is not yet all gone nor thy amazement arise and come out for hadst thou been faithful thou shouldst have crumbled Nations to dust for that had been thy place now is thy day of trial take heed of joining hands with the wicked against the innocent but hear the voice of God and that will keep thee from hardness of heart and mind the Law of God with which thou maist answer that of God in every one and his fear and his dread to be in thy family and that thou maist come to break the jawes of the wicked that rends the innocent and that thou maist be eyes to the blind and legs to the lame and an help to them that cannot help themselves and take heed that any of thy servants that be under thy dominion of quenching the Spirit or limiting the Holy one but wait for the Wisdom of God that with it thou maist order all to Gods glory and all his creatures by which Wisdom they were created and made and that thou maist find the blessing of the Lord God with thee and take heed of flatterers and take heed of wild light spirits that will speak thee fair but mind sober men for there is mischief in many minds but if thou be kept in the power of God and live in it thou wilt live over all and stop and cross and tread under the intents of wicked men and take heed in any thing they be not thy executioners for now thou hast time prize it A lover of thy Soul and thy Eternal good and for establishing Peace and Righteousness amongst the people G. FOX The Original copy of this was delivered to him the 11th month in the year 1657. Dear Friend BE still and in the Counsel of God stand and that will give thee wisdom that thou maist frustrate mens end and calm mens spirits and crumbel men under and arise and stand up in the power of the Lord God the Lambs authority and fear not the face of man but fear and dread the Lord God then his presence and wisdom and counsel thou shalt have to throw down the rubbish and quell all the bad spirits under thy dominion and fear them about thee live in the Lords power and life then to thee he will give wisdom and the pure feeling thou wilt come into whereby thy Soul will be refreshed and it will be thy delight to do the Will of God and thy meat and drink as thou in the pure Eternal Power Counsel Will and Wisdom of God dwells things all will be made plain before thee and to thee from the Lord God in what thou doest for the Lord God thou shalt have peace and the blessing and in that so doing all the sober true hearted people will be one with thee in travels sorrows and pains and then in that a blessing from the Lord will come upon thee will abound to thee and cover thee as thou lives and art kept in the power and dread of the Lord God of Heaven and earth where Wisdom is not wanting nor peace lacking but peace enjoyed and counsel and instruction from the Lord God given and the helping arm and hand that stretcheth over all the Nations in the world thou wilt feel it and with that thou wilt come to break down all mens ends that they have to themselves and the worships that men invent and images they have set up for the arm of the Lord helps the righteous by his hand he carries the Lambs which arm is turned against the wicked stretched over them and the hand of the Lord is against them that do evil in which hand the Soul is and brings it into peace therefore live in the power of the Lord God and feel his hand that is stretched out over the Nations for a mighty work hath the Lord to do in other Nations and their quakings and shakings is but entering So this is the Word of the Lord God to thee and a charge to thee from the Lord God in the presence of the Lord God live in the power of the Lord God of Heaven and earth that will make all Nations to tremble and quake for those be Gods enemies that be out of his power and counsel and be thou faithful to God singlely without respecting any mans person but
believe without any further knowledge that daily advantage they seek against thee by subtil conspiracies and secret plottings of maliciousnesse in their evil hearts seeking by all means if it be possible how to be avenged and not sliping any advantage how to revenge themselves and the cause of their King and of these scattered under thy Government is not a few but rather the greater number who thus stands in affections to thee with no better purpose of good towards thee then to destroy thee by any means if it were in their power and to take away thy Name in reproach such is the cruelty and desperatenesse of some of them their own lives are not dear unto them to take away thine I have felt the strength of their rage against thee which carries them above sence or fear to forego any danger that they might see their desired end of thee their malice towards thee is so seated in their wrathful hearts that it cannot easily be quenched I know the Lord hath cursed them and their endeavours to this day and thou hast had dominion and power given thee of God to bruise them and to break them to pieces and what thou hast done unto their King should not be reckoned against thee by the Lord if now thou wert faithful to what he requireth of thee for because of the wickednesse of that generation which was grown to the full did the Lord raise thee up as a plague upon them because of their unrighteousnesse oppression and tyranny and they were made as slaves and bondmen under thy power and without the Lord can they not at any time do any thing against thee but what and if for thy wickednesse in the sight of God he should make them instruments in his hand to accomplish his wrath upon thee even like as he made thee once his instrument to overthrow them and such hath been the Lords doings even to overthrow his enemies one by the other and to use the wicked as a rod in his hand to break them one against another like potsherds and by that which comes to passe in these Nations thou seems no lesse then to tread in their steps and in a measure already goes on in their way in oppressing through Tyranny or suffering it the people of God whose cause the Lord will assuredly plead against thee one day who now suffers under thee in patience and who can tell the purpose of the Lord or what he may bring to passe concerning this thing in raising up the wicked to be a plague to wickednesse and in suffering the oppressors to overthrow oppressions this is by me in love to thee in sencerity declared and by thee with soberness and in the fear of God it is to be considered Again there is another people scattered through all these Dominions who is not thy friends nor wishers well unto thee or thy Government who secretly murmures against thee and envies thee and even seekes God against thee and thy Government which they judge to be not according to God and bowes not to it in love though they are forced to submit for a time hoping continually if not hatching other wayes of Rule and Government to the overthrow of thee and thine and these are more honest and upright and just in the sight of the Lord then the former and indeed they are not nor their purposes accursed of the Lord for many of them have been sufferers and faithfully served their Nation with perfect purpose of freedom to the Lords People and they have at this day perfect zeal for God and for his wayes though not altogether according to knowledge yet some of them are not far from the Kingdom of God though they seek it not wholly in the right way nor looks onely with a single eye yet doth not the Lord hate them altogether because of their integrity towards him and zeal for him who some of them have suffered imprisonment for truth and righousness sake as they have wholly thought and their suffering hath not been altogether slighted by the Lord and these are they known by name of the fifth Monarchy of whom there is more then a few with them that wishes well unto them who will rise up for them rather then for thee many of whom propounds well in their minds though they have not power to effect it because their intent is not altogether according to the Lord yet are many of them free from that whereof thy self is guilty and some of them are cast out and wholly rejected without any just cause as they suppose and these things have grieved their spirits and not onely kindled their rage and envy but moved their sincerity and honesty against thee wherefore they are not thy friends but rather thy enemies and would not stand by thee or with thee in thy need but rather I suppose would arm themselves against thee and thy power who highly charges thee as they suppose justly too with unfaithfulness and such like for they see that is not accomplished which hath been promised by thee but the contrary even one finger is become as heavy as was once the loynes and their spirits are grieved against thee for such causes and who knowes but that the Lord may take the occasion to trie thee and prove thee by them for their hearts are high against thee and thy Government and that upon good ground as they sincerely think Again there is through thy Dominions a People gathered and gathering dayly by multitudes who are called and chosen of him and faithful to him who hath owned him above all things and whom he hath owned and will own in the sight of the whole world and will encrease them to a numberless number according to his promise and even those the Lord is making many who are redeeming out of the world into the Government and Kingdom of Jesus Christ and these thou knowest are great and grievous sufferers by many hard and cruel oppressions from those who are in authority in thy Government even unjust imprisonment and fines and burthensome taxations in many things hard to be expressed and they undergo grievous persecutions under thy Government and wholly unjustly in the sight of God and also are cast out of all power and place in it and almost out of all subjects priviledge too many of them being counted as vile amongst men though they are not so in the sight of the Lord Justice and righteousness and true Judgement they cannot have in all these Nations not from thy self nor subservant Judges of whom hardly can their cause be heard but are deprived of their proper right and of subjects freedom in Judicatories and exposed to all wrong that may be by unjust men through unjust Judgement and these things are not unknown to thee and therefore art thou inexcusable in the sight of the Lord and guiltie of their sufferings in his presence who hath power to prevent it but doth it not and these thus suffering in thy Government
and under it how can they stand for thee and thy Government or out of pure love be subject thereunto though be it known to thee that we the People of God doth not envy thy person or Government in the least neither hath purpose of seeking advantage against thee or it to hurt or betray you by secret plotting or turbulent arising as others may yet friend the want of our prayers to God for thee is worse to thee then the secret plotting of all wicked men And how can we mention thee in our prayers to God except it be to be delivered from thee who are dayly cruel and unjust sufferers by thee or because of thee as I have said or how can we be friends to that Government or subject to obey that power under which we dayly suffer such hard and cruel things as the loss of our liberty and estates and danger of life also let that light in thy own conscience Judge though for all these things we do rather pitty thee and desires thy repentance then conspires against thee or wisheth thy destruction yet oughtest thou to consider of these things with a humble heart and what a condition thou art in who is hated of the wicked with deadly hatred and not loved of the Saints because thou lovest not the Lord also it might make thy heart to tremble to consider how that thy Dominions are thus devided and the affections of the people thus dis-united and few of them thy real friends some having real offence given by thee wherefore they are forced to loath that Government which is unjust and others verily supposing of great wrong sustained from thee wherefore they are turned against thee Moreover besides all this greatly it may be suspected that even they in whom thou dost repose confidence who seems to cleave unto thee may not be altogether true unto thee though in appearance subject yet may have secret hypocrisie and hatching of evil in their minds if it were possible to uncover thy nakedness and some others also there may be who may make use of places under thee which may have no more affection to thee nor service for thee then while their own ends of great advantage are served under thee by their subjection to thy Government and now friend these things being justly considered and viewed by thee in righteousness how is thy Dominions as a broken vessel that cannot easily be bound up and as a bruised reed not to be confided in by thee and these several sorts of people being substracted out of the whole how few is it that thou wilt find that are thy real and faithful friends who may stand by thee in a needful time some out of envy cannot be subject to thee and others for the fear of the Lords sake cannot own thee in such a Government whereby the just suffers even all men are ready to stand afar off from thee and because thou hast denyed the people of God therefore cannot he be thy trust and verily thy state and the state of thy Dominions are truly to be lamented thou hast so much sought thy self that thou hast lost almost all people and their affections every one judging themselves to be the greatest sufferers under thee Ah consider for thou art but the head of a disjoynted body which may not easily be bound up to thee and thou art lost for lack of true knowledge for the Lord hath done many things for thee though thou hast not known it altogether and much less then knowest thou of those things which are eternal which belongs to thy peace it shewes thou ownes not the Lord who cannot own his people but rather counts them thy enemies and suffers all evil to be inflicted upon them and this is the greatest of thy misery in that the Lord hath been so good unto thee and thy promises so large towards him for the freedom of his people and yet all forgot and the Lords goodness not answered and his people made as slaves and bondmen under thee suffering the loss of liberty and even their birth-right priviledge in many parts of these Nations wherefore be awakened O man and sleep not totally in carelesness but remember thy self either to perform the good or at least to escape the evil which may suddenly come upon thee And this I have written to thee out of perfect love in the fear of God without the fear of any man or without any secret or open envying of thee couldst thou but own the Lord he would be thy strength to forgive all thy iniquities and blot out thy sin and to defend thee from all thy enemies and above all things love Judgement mercy and truth and fear before the Lord and let not his people be thy bond-slaves who is more dear unto the Lord then all earthly glory is unto thee and if thou couldst own them they would own thee in the face of all thine enemies many times hast thou been warned and that from the Lord and thou shalt confess it when the Lords hand is upon thee and thou delivered into the will of thy enemies remember that I have told thee what the Lord hath shewed me happy art thou if thou canst receive it that peace may be unto thee and not war salvation and not condemnation renown and not dishonour which waits for thee except thou turn to the Lord Edward Burrough The Original of this was delivered to him in the seventh moneth 1657. To the Protector and Counsel A Servant of the Lord and to you a friend wisheth Grace and Wisdom the spirit of sound Judgement and the knowledge of God unto you that in all things true Justice and righteous Judgement may be brought forth and abound unto all people that you may be more honourable and may be made a blessing to your selves and this Nation and to generations after you but alas my friends how long shall Justice and true Judgement be neglected and the innocent deeply groan for want thereof how long shall it be ere the distressed cry of the unjustly afflicted enter into your hearts I say when shall your ear be bowed down to hearken to and consider of the guiltless cause of many of the faithful subjects who lies deeply afflicted through this Nation some under one cruel bond of oppression and some under another being most unjustly and wickedly imposed upon them by cruel men who perverts Justice and turneth true Judgement backwards and neither fears God nor regards men but contrary to Justice and the good Lawes of this Land as men without reason and natural affections to mankind doth act most illegally to the grievous oppression of many approved faithful subjects and the true knowledge and consideration hereof is enough to pierce the hardest heart and to vex the most patient mind and undoubtedly the fierce anger of the Lord is greatly kindled because of these things and even against your forbearance who seems to take little notice of such cruelties and in justice
wickednesse which was great in the sight of the Lord Oh remember this every one of you and come to the witnesse of God in you and be humble and meek and lowly and let the Lords fear be in your hearts and be of a tender spirit having your mindes exercised in purity in holinesse and in righteousnesse and exalt not your selves nor be lifted up in your hearts in the pride and vain glories and honours of this World least the Lord cast you down and make your name and posterity a reproach as he hath done many before you even for that cause was the generations of the Stewarts cast out and if you walk in the same steps and do the same things and become guilty of the same abominations and suffer the Children and Servants of the Lord to be persecuted as many are at this day some until death shall the Lord spare you nay he will cause you to feel his hand of judgement and bring you down with sorrow and he will vex you in his wrath and smite you with his rod more and more till you learn his fear and depart from all your iniquities and the Lord will deface your glory and pull down your crown and he will make you know that he is the Lord that doth whatsoever he will Wherefore humble your selves under the hand of God and search your own hearts and cast out the abhominations that vexeth the spirit of the Lord and suffer not the people of the Lords pretious flock to be devoured and made a prey to the wicked for because of this the rod of affliction cometh upon you and may suddenly break you to pieces but mind the seed of God in you which is oppressed and wait to know the power of the Lord which will redeem you out of sin and death and reconcile you to God and bring you into fellowship with himself to enjoy peace and rest for your soules that you may be made heires of the inheritance of an endlesse life and this would make you truly honourable and will be more satisfaction to you and joy and content and true rejoycing then all worldly crowns and worldly glories which will waste and consume away and leave you miserable and remember that you are now warned from the Lord God by whom I am moved to write this unto you in dear and tender love to you all and one day you shall witnesse it And as concerning the Quakers so called who are accounted as vile in the sight of men and are cast out of all power and place in the Nation being despised of all and also are reproached persecuted and imprisoned and all manner of evil and injustice unrighteously done and spoken against them by wicked and corrupt men in authority yet are they the Children and Servants of the living God and greatly beloved of him and are as dear to him as the apple of his eye and his power and presence is with them and the time is at hand that the Lord will make their persecutors fall and their enemies bow and tremble though now they suffer unjustly and are troden down as not deserving a place on the earth yet it is for righteousnesse sake and because they shew forth the image of the Father and not for evil doing and will not their sufferings lie upon you for many hundred have suffered cruel and great things and some the losse of life though not by yet in the name of the Protector and about a hundred at this present day lies in holes and dungeons and prisons up and down the Nation and some at this time are sick nigh unto death whose sufferings cries for vengeance and the Lord heareth the cry wherefore save your selves and let the innocent be delivered and the cruel bonds of oppression broken and the exercise of a pure conscience go free without persecution and then the Lord will turn away his anger and cease to smite you with his rod which hath been upon you and he will give you peace and make you blessed if you come to be lead by his spirit into all truth and though these innocent Lambs of Christ suffer thus under this present power yet are they not enemies to you but are friends to your persons and families and pitties you and loves you and desires well for you in the Lord that you may repent and be healed and even that your hearts may be opened to receive refreshments to your souls and that you may be established in righteousness and truth over all your enemies and may not be confounded nor your posterity brought into reproach which is hastening upon you and though our love be disputed we accounted hateful in your sight and looked upon with derision yet we bare all things in patience truly desiring your returning and repentance and not your destruction but if these doleful sufferings of the Lords poor Lambs be continued by this present power it will destroy you and undo you and break you and confound you and the Lord will not cease to smite you with his rod of sharp rebukes and he will make you know his Peoples cause shall not be unpunished Oh did you but know how hundreds have and do suffer how the bodies of some have been tortured by stocks and cruel whippings and how some lies sick in stinking holes and dungeons on the ground or a little straw at best ten or often more in a prison together and sometimes their own friends not suffered to come to visit them with necessaries Oh did but your eyes behold or your hearts perceive the greatness of the cruelty which some of the Lords dear servants and your faithful friends undergo it would make your hearts ake and your spirits to tremble and all this is done in the name and under the Authorty of Protector therefore how should the Lord but lay it to your charge and afflict him and his family he will make you know there is a God that can do whatsoever he will and that life and death are in his hand and all creatures are as clay in the hand of a potter and he rules in the Kingdoms of men and pulleth down one and setteth up another according to his pleasure but if the love of God be with-holden from you it is because of disobedience to him and your transgression Wherefore be obedient to him and love his wayes and judgements that he may make you more happy with a Crown Immortal that never fades away and remember once more the Lord hath warned you by a Friend unto you in the Lord E. BURROUGH Written the 1. day of the 7. month called Sept. 1658. Copies of this were delivered to divers of his Children and Kindred the day before he died To thee Richard Cromwel called Protector of these Nations is this moved of the Lord God of heaven and earth to be written for thy Instruction from him THere is a great mighty Innumerable people come coming up out of Aegypts Land
once and again overturned and overthrowed and changed at his pleasure times and powers and Authorities and Dominions and he hath brought down the mighty from their seats and stained the Crowns and glories of the honourable and broken the stout-hearted and the oppressors and their Governments as potsheards one against another and made the highest of men of no respect before him for he hath pulled down and set up whom he would according to his will and in all these things hath his hand been the very doer and accomplisher thereof that he might be known and feared amongst all People through the whole earth who is the dread and terrour of men and Nations And as for thy Father the late Protector great things and honourable did the Lord do for him in raising him up and casting out his enemies before him and giving him victory and power and renown through Nations and we know the Lord shewed favour to him and gave him strength wisdom and valour and a right spirit and he was called of God into that great work to subdue the grievous tyranies once ruling over tender consciences and to break down the great oppressions which for ages had caused the just to groan and the Lord was with him in victory and went before him and was his defence and preserved him from great dangers and from the wills of all his enemies and made him prosperous against them all but yet we know to say no more of him he did not wholly fulfill the will of the Lord nor the work which he begun but became disobedient and abused his great deliverances and Authority and did not set free the oppressed altogether but left mountains of oppressions and grievous yokes of bondage unbroken down and unsubdued and the Lord smote him and took him away in judgement because thereof And as for thee who art now set up in his stead we certainly believe that the hand of the Lord is in this matter if but to try thee and it is he that hath brought it to passe not expected by any nor much sought after by thy self but it s come to passe a thing out of and contrary to the thoughts and expectations of the whole Nations art thou attained to this place of Government therefore we must acknowledge something of the great hand of God in it being come to pass as out of due season yet may the Lord make it seasonable and we patiently wait to receive what the Lord brings to passe thereby knowing that thou art in the hand of the Lord to do whatsoever he will with thee and concerning thee and if thou fear him and walk with him and chuse him for thy Counsellour and be obedient to him and seek his glory alone and not thy own honour and greatness then the Lord will do great things for thee and by thee and accomplish his own work through thee which fell in thy Father hand and thou wilt be blessed and renowned and honoured for ever and thy name shall be had in respect in generations to come and hereby the present thoughts of many shall be confounded but if thou do harden thy heart against God live carelesly and neglect his cause and despise his Name and honour seek thy own renown and oppresse the just in thee and without thee and suffer the poor to groan under the cruelty and burthen of oppressing men and Lawes in thy Government without relief from thee and go on in usurped Authority as some evil men before thee then shalt thou not prosper but the Lord shall bring thee down and lay his hand of judgement upon thee and thy name shall be a reproach to the Saints for ever and the heavy hand of vengeance shall be upon thee and pursue thee more then any before thee and the Lord will deliver his People by another way and this is not in flattery and fainedness to thee but as the Lord lives our God shall bring it to pass in his day and thou shalt be the witness Wherefore O man seek the face of the Lord and inquire diligently of him and hear his word that thy soul may live and feel a measure of his spirit in thee to lead thee into all truth and set his presence before thy eye alwayes to direct thy steps that he may bless thee with Power Wisdom Authority and Dominion to perform the duty of thy place faithfully towards the Lord and all men as he requires of thee and if thou first seek the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and the reconciliation between the Lord and thee and come to feel the Elect seed of God raised up over all the contrary in thee and transgression and thy own will and affections and that which is of the flesh in thee judged and condemned by the word in the heart which makes the immortal soul to live and be refreshed in God and the heir of the promise of God born in thee and hereby shalt thou have an assurance and hope of life Eternal to rest in perfect peace with God when this world is no more but passed away with thee and also in this present time wisdom and valour and true Nobility shall be added to thee and the spirit of Power and Dominion to make men and Nations be afraid and fear and all evil men and such as seeks the hurt of thee and thy Government shall be blasted and confounded and all good men be encouraged and made strong and the whole Nations kept in peace and unity and the truth and peace of God shall hereby flourish amongst us to the honour of the eternal God and to thy renown if thou Rule and Govern for him and by his Spirit and Authority And we are truly sensible of the great charge of this place also of the multitude of perplexities and dangers to thy self occurring and happening thereby dangers from open enemies by their malice and cruel plots and dangers from thy pretended friends and they of thy own house by secret surmisings dangers in Martial and Civil affairs in this Nation and abroad so that we certainly believe nothing save onely the Wisdom of God and his Power can preserve thee carry thee to go through faithfully fulfil so great a place and to discharge it truly in the sight of God and just men neither maist thou be defended and preserved by any other means from the wills and plots and envy of evil men who may watch for evil against thee to destroy thee and blot out thy name and thy fathers posterity out of the Land Wherefore take heed to thy self and fear God that he may bless thee for this is a subtil and crafty generation and the Nations are politick and the Inhabitants thereof wise and deceitful over whom thou art set and with whom thou hast to deal Therefore beware of men for many may seek after thy hurt and some may flatter thee and shew seeming great respect unto thee and profess great service of
on in faithfulness to the end and in that day when thou was raised up when the fear of the Lord was before thy face and thy heart was towards him and thou was but little in thine own eyes then was it well with thee and the Lord blessed thee and made thee honourable and his people had love towards thee and desires for thee that thou might have been as a helper to the poor and a father to the faithful and a preserver of the upright from unreasonable men and an easer of the oppressed a taker away of every oppressive bond and it was not once thought concerning thee that the hands of the ungodly would have been strengthened against the righteous under thee or that such grievous and cruel burthens and oppressions would ever have been laid upon the Just and acted against them in thy name and under thy Dominion as unrighteously have come to passe in these three years as a large testimony might be given and this thy suffering of such things is thy transgression and thou hast not requited the Lord well for his goodness unto thee nor fulfilled his will in suffering that to be done under thee and in thy name which the Lord raised thee against to break down hadst thou been faithful to the end Again consider and let it move on thy heart not to exalt thy self nor to be high minded but to fear continally knowing that thou standest not by thy self but by another and that he is able to abase thee and give thee into the will of thy enemies when soever he will and how the Lord hath preserved thee sometimes wonderfully and doth unto this day from the murderous plots and crafty policie of evil men who seeks thy evil and would rejoyce in thy fall and in the desolation of thy family and countries how have they and do they lay snares for thy feet that thou may be cut off from amongst men and die unhappily and be accounted a curse and yet to this day he hath preserved thee and been near thee to keep thee though thou hast hardly known it and the Lords end is love to thee in all these things and yet a little longer to try thee and that thou might give him the glory O that thy heart were opened to see his hand that thou mayst live unto him and die in him in peace and beware least hardness of heart possesse thee if thou slight his love and so be shut up in darkness and given to the desires of thine enemies and left to the counsels of treacherous men who may seek to exalt thee by flattery that they might the better cast thee down and destroy thee and blot out thy name in reproach and make thy posterity a People miserable but now O consider and let it enter into thy heart for thou hast not answered the Lord but been wanting to him for all this and hast chosen thy own way and glory rather then his and not fulfilled his counsel in raising thee for the bonds of crueltie are not loosed by thee and the oppressed is not altogether set free neither is oppression taken off from the back of the poor nor the Laws regulated nor liberty of pure conscience altogether allowed but these Dominions are filled with cruel oppressors and the poor groans every where under their heavy hand of injustice the needy are troden down under foot and the oppressed cries for deliverance and are ready to faint for true Justice and Judgement the proud exalts himself against the poor and the high minded and Rebellious contemns the meek of the earth the horn of the ungodly is exalted over the Lords heritage and they that are departed from iniquity are become a prey to oppressors and the cruel hearted deals cruelly with the innocent in these Nations and such whom the Lord hath freed in their consciences from false worships and Teachers and from the wayes of sin and death are made slaves and greedily preyed upon by unjust men through casting into prisons and dungeons and unjust fines and Illegal proceedings and beatings and abusings and woundings and bruisings hard to be expressed and large to be declared even the hands of many of the people over whom thou art set to rule are full of blood merciless and cruel and neither fears God nor are subject to the just rule and Government of men and the mouth of many of thy subservant Rulers and Governours that have their power from thee are as the teeth of young Lions and the upright and harmless are devoured and made a spoil by them through policy and oppression both in their persons and estates if I perish I must speak the truth my life is not dear to me for the truth sake many who should have judged in true Justice and righteousness the cause of the poor have been as bryars and thorns to insnare and pierce the just man and have perverted Judgement and turned it backward equity have hardly had place to enter most of the prisons this day in all thy Juridictions have and doth testifie the unjust judgement and the great oppressions and cruelties of some in Authority who have used or rather abused thy name and made it a cloak for their hard-heartedness O my heart is troubled and my bowels pained at the remembrance of this how doth the poor cry under the heavy hand of oppession and the needy lament for want of true Judgement and the oppressed groan for want of deliverance and these things are thought upon by the Lord though not considered by thee as they ought to be and because of this will he arise to plead the cause of the innocent against him that is too strong for him and will dash to pieces his enemies and break the jawes of the devourers and the righteous shall not alwayes be a prey to the teeth of the ungodly O Friend when wilt thou consider the oppression of the poor and hearken to the cry of the oppressed within thee and without thee when shall it enter into thy heart this cause of the unjust sufferings of the Lords people from which thou canst not altogether be excused for it is acted in thy name though not by thee O let thy ear be opened unto the cryes of the oppressed in the prisons and let the cause of the innocent come before thee and let thy heart be pierced at the consideration of these things which are come to pass in thy dayes contrary to the expectation of many and see if it be not contrary to thy own promises sometimes vowed by thee let the light of Christ in thy own conscience answer and some of the multitude of the grievous oppressions of which the Land is full hath been laid at thy door and brought unto thee but scarcely found an entrance upon thee and this aggravates the crime of thy transgression in that thou knowest of these things wonderful is it to consider that even thou with whom the power of the Lord hath
respect the Lord and his work and be obedient to his will singlely without any end to thy self living in the pure wisdom counsel and instruction from God then wilt thou see Gods enemies that live out of Gods wisdom power and counsel fall in their pits snare themselves fear where there is no fear slaying themselves with their envy and the power of the Lord will clear all the wicked off of thee as thou lives in it and art kept in it and this is the Word of the Lord God to thee and live in the wisdom and life of God that with it thou maist be ordered to his glory and order his creatures to his glory and be still and silent from thy own wisdom wit craft subtilty or policy that would arise in thee but stand single to the Lord without any end to thy self then God will bless thee and prosper thee in his wayes thou wilt feel his blessing in thy generation and thy mind stayed upon the Lord thou wilt be kept in perfect peace without any intent to thy self to the glory of the Lord God and there wilt thou feel no want nor a failing nor forsaking but the presence of the Lord God of life with thee for now the state of this present age is the Lord is a bringing his people into the life which the Scriptures were given forth from in which his people shall come to have unity with God with the Scriptures and one with another for their establishing is in righteousnes truth and peace in which is the Kindom of God From a lover of thy Soul and Eternal Good G. F. For the Protector FRIEND THE Salutation of my life wisheth well unto thee in the Lord and most especially that thy precious Soul may be reedeemed out of death to God and live that thou mayest have a rest and habitation in him when this world is no more Now whereas it is a general out-cry among the Teachers and people of this Nation and also is doubted and hath been sometime objected by thy self that the people called Quakers are deluded and deceived and in errour and such like and now if it be possible that thy self and and others may be resolved concerning us put therefore all thy objections and doubtings into plain positions or let the wisest of thy Teachers do it for thee and whatsoever thy self or any for thee can object against us or what thou doubtest of or stumblest at either in respect of our doctrines or practice let the matter be stated in plain words in positions or queries and if God permit a sufficient answer thou maist receive to remove all conscienceous scruples and to confound all subtile alleadgments and evasions whereby hereafter for ever thou maist be altogether inexcusable of all doubting or speaking against us or suffering evil to be done or spoken against us upon that account and this am I moved to give forth and send to thee that thou maist be satisfied and all things tried and made manifest in the sight of all men and that all rash Judgement and false supposition which lodgeth in the hearts of many may be confounded and brought to nought and let it be left off to cry out deceivers and heresie c. and causing any to suffer upon suspition thereupon but bring all things to light and true Judgement that what is proved to be the truth may be owned and not persecuted any more for we are willing to be made manifest to all men and if any thing be objected against us which may not be sufficiently answered and resolved to sober men then our enemies are more free and hath whereof to glory in against us but and if all occasions of stumbling be removed by answers according to the Scriptures and our principles practices and doctrines thereby vindicated then let all the Teachers and all our adversaries shut their mouths from biting at us and railing against us and accusing of us to thee and let thy ear be shut from believing lyes against the innocent and let none suffer in thy Dominion under the cruelty of men upon such a ground and hereof I should be glad to receive an answer and to joyn issue in this cause and in the mean time alwayes am a lover of thy Soul but a witness against all oppression E. BURROUGH This was delivered to his hands at Hampton Court in the 4th month 1658. For the Protector FRIEND Know that there is a God that doth whatsoever he will all power is in his hand and he bringeth to pass the Counsel of his own heart and he rules in the kingdoms of men bringeth down setteth up he killeth maketh alive he changeth times seasons Governments bringeth to nought the counsels of men for all power in earth and in heaven is in him and all his doings are right and his wayes are equal and thou and all mankind are as clay in the hand of the potter he can honour and exalt as he pleaseth and he can mar and break to pieces and dishonour whensoever he will wherefore be humble and low in heart before him for he is the highest power that subdueth all things under his feet if he wound who can heal and if he kill there is none can make alive and know thou it is the Lord God Almighty that doth this in whose hands are the Issues of life and death and he it is who can break thee down and build thee up who can wound thee and restore thee and bring thee to destruction and say unto thee return and to know him that doth this belongs to thy eternal peace Wherefore hearken thou to the word of the Lord that thy soul may come out of death and live and fear the Lord God before whom thy heart is naked and bare who can mould thee and change thee and fulfill his pleasure upon thee even according to his own will and who shall say what doth he and now come to consideration and let thy heart be more upright before him chuse his way and counsel that he may blesse thee and seek his face to behold his countenance that thy soul may be satisfied by his word and the milk of the word may nourish thee unto life immortal and mind his pure presence which is life even God with thee Christ the Immanuel to dwell with and walk in thee which is the promise of the Father and first come to the principle of God and feel the word of God in thy heart that will beat down the nature into which temptations enters and the word will bring thee to War against and to overcome all thy enemies which would defile thee or betray thee and it will bring thee to know a birth immortal born in thee and a Crown immortal received from God that dies not nor fades not away and then he that Rules over heaven and earth will be thy shepherd to feed thee and thy Teacher to guide thee and thy Counsellour to